Timothy Bradley (L) of US celebrates his victory over Manny Pacquiao (R) of the Philippines following their WBO welterweight title match at the MGM Grand Arena on June 9, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada. AFP PHOTO / JOE KLAMAR
Manny Pacquiao and his camp drew flak in choosing to fight Timothy Bradley for a third time in what the Filipino boxing legend is insisting to be his final fight this April.
Mike Koncz, the eight-division champion’s longtime adviser, defended Pacquiao’s decision and said Bradley was the best available opponent for the former welterweight champion in a financial aspect.
READ: Pacquiao up against ‘better’ Bradley, swears trainer Atlas
Bradley wasn’t the popular choice given that he had been practically beaten by Pacquiao twice regardless of the result of their first encounter in 2012 where the American won a highly-disputed split-decision win.
“We looked at what was the best financial package for Manny and I was dealing directly with Amir Khan,” Koncz told BoxingScene.com referring to former British champion whom Pacquiao also considered fighting before opting for Bradley. “I kept him posted as much as I could. I even let him know what we had to pay Bradley to fight in the hopes that he may become more realistic in his purse.”
READ: Manny Pacquiao retiring: ‘Bradley will be my last’
“And I was even contemplating Adrien Broner but we had to look at everything in a package deal and fortunately – or unfortunately – the best package financially I could get for Manny was a rematch with Bradley,” Koncz added.
Like Pacquiao, Mayweather also received negative feedback for fighting an overmatched Andre Berto last September as his farewell fight
“Are we gonna get more criticism for Floyd facing Berto on his last fight? I don’t think so.”